Founder First Fund, a brand new VC agency based mostly in Portland, Ore., is elevating its inaugural fund to again pre-seed and seed-stage startups in a wide range of sectors throughout the Pacific Northwest.
The fund is led by Josh Carter, a longtime entrepreneur and former director at Washington Maritime Blue, a nonprofit based mostly in Seattle that helps maritime startups.
Carter is common accomplice on the agency, together with Justin Vandehey, an entrepreneur who bought his startup Disco to Tradition Amp in 2021 and is presently CEO of gross sales automation startup Thread.
Founder First Fund not too long ago added former Twilio exec Bobby Napiltonia as a enterprise accomplice.
The agency introduced Tuesday that it has raised funding from Saeed Amidi, CEO of Plug and Play, the Silicon Valley-based innovation group that not too long ago planted its flag within the Seattle area.
The agency focuses on software program, clear tech, deep tech, and AI/ML firms. It plans to take a position between $100,000 and $500,000 in every firm.
Carter, who was a supervisor at WeWork and CEO of a Techstars-backed bootcamp for navy veterans, introduced in 2019 that he was launching a fund referred to as 1859 Ventures that might concentrate on Oregon’s underrepresented founders.
The pandemic and different hurdles stored that fund from taking off — however Carter is taking one other swing with Founder First Fund.
The agency will nonetheless look to search out startups led by what he describes as “ignored founders.”
Carter mentioned Tuesday he’s enthusiastic about serving to Pacific Northwest founders construct connections to assets exterior of the area, pointing to the funding from Amidi for example.
